Kidnapped: A case of Mistaken Identity

I was kidnapped.

Well … not literally.

I was mistaken for another person and taken on a tour of a factory only for the folly to be realized before we entered the factory :)

Well … this is how it actually happened.

The project has just started and introductions had happened but people were still getting used to the new names and faces around them. One of our client team members Mr. M gestured to me at the end of the meeting and when I went to speak to him, he told me that he wanted to show me the factory and the manufacturing process.

I wasn't surprised since being a Org. Change Mgmt consultant, I need to interact with all team members and they try to tell me their people's perspective in different ways.

I kept asking him what he was going to show me and why had he picked me specifically for the guided tour of the factory. He kept avoiding the question and we talked about a variety of things while driving to the factory. We also had another colleague with us.

As we neared the factory, we were talking about life in Dubai and I mentioned that I had been here before on another project. The other colleague enquired if I was leading the PM track at that time also. Here, I clarified that I was leading the OCM track even then- like I was doing now.

At this point, the car stopped with a jolt.

The person who had 'kidnapped' me had hit the brakes. He turned around and looked incredulously at me. After what seemed like an awfully long 3-5 seconds, he said 'I am sorry, but I thought you were Ram'.

The mystery cleared and we all had a hearty laugh as all 3 of us realized that he wanted Ram to see the factory since he was leading the PM track. We returned back to office, picked up Ram and went back to the factory. Mr. M insisted I tag along and I did.

It was a nice experience being inside a factory after such a long time. I have been inside an Automobile factory, cable manufacturing factory, inside L&T different manufacturing divisions etc - all in my Engineering days way back in 1997-2000- almost 10 years ago. It was fun to be back inside.

So this is how I almost got kidnapped.